Would you consider English the universal language?

I personally would be angry if English became the universal language. I hate all those "speak English, damn't," types that I have met. If there is to be a universal language it should be totally new and tailored to be easy for all people to learn and use it. English is confusing and difficult, not to mention it's totally bland and unimpressive sounding imho.

 

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"Would". I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice. The fact that you are using this language now (the official/de facto official language of air traffic, maritime law, medicine, science, commerce, the internet, banking, as well as numerous other international organization) is telling enough of where the momentum is going and where it will end.

People who site the erstwhile importance of Latin or French fail to include the fact that those languages were the purview of the powerful class and were nonetheless spoke marginally. Go to Haiti, the Congo or Vietnam (nations hardly considered wealthy) and you'll find even the poorest kids regurgitating English quotes, sayings and greetings. Those who site the "upcoming" importance of Chinese (the only possible competitor) fail to understand that China isn't exporting Chinese. No one in Africa, Latin America or Europe is learning Chinese. In a world where there is only so much room on sudents' plates for second languages, there is only one language to learn: English.

English is taught in every classroom (well, those worth their salt) from Calcutta to Nairobi; Buenos Aires to Beijing. In places like China, India, Germany, Brazil (even with its close interactions with the Spanish Latin America) and Russia, there is no "other" second language. Every kid knows: if you want to make it in business, entertainment, politics or the sciences, you need to learn English. It has co-official status in the soon-to-be most populous nation on Earth: India, and is obsessively taught in the current most populous: China.

Momentum, especially for 6.5 billion people--with infrastructure to boot--is unimaginably difficult to shift and unless interstellar invaders change our current course, there is little possibility of any other language usurping English.

If you find it bland, then you don't speak it well enough. I am bilingual--by choice--and while I find Spanish to be beautiful, I find it to be nowhere near as versatile as English (though, satisfyingly more efficient).

~String

 

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There's a pretty good--but short--video on TED about the world's English mania. Definitely give it a watch, puts things into perspective.

My low post count prohibits me from posting a direct link, so just google "Jay Walker English mania".

 

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Have you even been to Germany? Most young people can speak English there.

 

http://www.acus.org/highlights/jay-walkers-talk-english-mania

Chinese learn English, by LAW, in the third grade.

Go China.

~String

 

Holy shit, this thing is interesting.

~String

 

Well, as long as we're talking universal languages, may I suggest you all watch this.

Stargate SG-1, Torment of Tantalus. Skip ahead to 6:16 and watch to 8:10.

And here, 1:40 - 2:10.

I like the idea.

 

Surprising coming from a "linguist". Complexity is a sign of sophistication too. If you find Hindi complex, then admit that it is sophisticated.

A sphisticated language is a must for literature in all fields. Specially true of poetry. Pay some attention to that aspect.

 

Huh.
A Linguist.

What is a writing system? It is dependent on the language. Without a script or formal writing a language can survive. Without a language to represent, what is a script? Squiggles only.

Second, it is apparent you don't know much about Indian languages.

 

Japanese does have Hiragana and Katakana in addition to the Kanji--even though these are syllabaries rather than alphabets, it is still possible to spell every word in Japanese by sound, and that is the first way Japanese children are taught to write before they learn all the Kanji.

 

In my own researched, I think most of the people consider English the Universal Language because that is the language used in reaching people in other country.

 

historically they don't like the English much either, or anything Angle.